Glossary his glossary contains many Sanskrit words, people, places, and literature that Sathya Sai Baba uses in His Tdiscourses, especially discourses appearing in this volume. The glossary attempts to provide comprehensive meanings and detailed explanations of the more important Sanskrit words, for the benefit of lay readers who are interested in Hindu religion and philosophy. In an electronic version of this volume (e.g. an e-book for the Ipad, Kindle, or Nook), you can click on most names, places, people, and Sanskrit words within the text in order to immediately access the word in this glossary. Your device will also have an arrow or other link to press to get back to the text. Prasanthi Vahini The Eightfold path of yoga 56 Glossary a-dwaitha. Nondualism, monism, the doctrine that everything is God, the philosophy of absolute oneness of God, soul, and universe. agni. Fire element. Agni. God of Fire; the fire element; name for fire when it is out of sight range. aham. The knower, the “I”. ahamkara. Ego, self-love, selfish individuality. ahimsa. Nonviolence. aikya. Oneness with God, union of the individual soul (jiva) with God. a-jnana. Ignorance, stupidity. akasa. Space, ether, the subtlest form of matter. amritha. Divine nectar (literally, no death or immortal). ananda. Divine bliss. The Self is unalloyed, eternal bliss. Pleasures are but its faint and impermanent shadows. an-atma. Not Atma, or not-Self. anga. Limb, part, fact, feature, “earth bit”. anritha. Not true, false. anthah-karana. Inner psycho-somatic fourfold instruments of mind, intellect, memory, and ego. a-parigraha. Non-acceptance of gifts, renunciation. Arjuna. Krishna’s disciple, in the Bhagavad Gita; third of five Pandava brothers. SeeMahabharatha . artha. Wealth, prosperity, material object, thing, aim, purpose, desire. Aryan. (a) Literally noble. (b) Follower of Vedic or spiritual path. (c) Ancient dwellers of India who composed the Rig-veda; the chief tribe was that of the Bharathas. asana. Yoga posture; sitting posture. a-santhi. Lack of peace; agitated mind; restlessness. Opposite of santhi. a-sat. Falsehood, unreal, non-existent, bad. a-stheya. Non-stealing. asthika. Believer; theist; God-revering person. a-sura. Demon; term arose when Diti’s sons refused to drink the divine liquor (suraa) offered by Varuni, the daughter of Varuna. Atma. Self; Soul. Self, with limitations, is the individual soul. Self, with no limitations, is Brahman, the Su- preme Reality. Atma-ananda. Atmic bliss, bliss of Self-realization. Atma-droha. Self-tormenting, treason to the higher Self. Atma-rama. Eternal bliss; Rama in the heart. Atma-santhi. Individual peace. Atma-swarupa. Embodiment of the all-pervading divine Self. Prasanthi Vahini Glossary 57 Atmic. Of or relating to the Atma. Aum. Om; Designation of the Universal Brahman; sacred, primordial sound of the universe. Avatar. Incarnation of God. Whenever there is a decline of dharma, God comes down to the world assuming bodily form to protect the good, punish the wicked and re-establish dharma. An Avatar is born and lives free and is ever conscious of His mission. By His precept and example, He opens up new paths in spirituality, shedding His grace on all. Ayodhya. City where Rama was born and ruled. Bhagavad Gita. Literally, Song of God. Portion of the Mahabharatha that is a dialogue between Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers, and Krishna. Bhagavatha. A sacred book composed by Sage Vyasa dealing with Vishnu and His incarnations, especially Krishna. It also means those with attachment to God, or the Godly. bhajans. Congregational chant group worship by devotees with devotional music in which repetition of holy names predominates. bhakthi. Devotion to God. Bharatha-desa. India; region of God-loving people. bhashya. Commentaries on spiritual texts by great sages. Bhishma. The guardian and patriarch of the Kauravas and Pandavas. Son of King Shantanu. Remarkable for his wisdom and unflinching devotion to God. Trapped by his fate to fight on side of evil Kauravas; bled to death on a bed of arrows while thinking of God. See Mahabharatha. He also vowed life-long celibacy to ensure that his offspring would not claim the throne. Brahma. The Creator, the First of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Siva (the Destroyer). brahma-charya. Path to knowledge of Brahman; state of an unmarried religious student; first stage of life of a brahmin; spiritual studentship. Brahman. The Supreme Being, the Absolute Reality, Impersonal God with no form or attributes. The uncaused cause of the Universe, Existence, Consciousness-Bliss Absolute (Sat-Chit-Ananda); The Eternal Changeless Reality — not conditioned by time, space, and causation. Brahma Sutra. Spiritual text of Vedantic teachings in short maxims, attributed to Badharayana or Vyasa. brahmin. First of four castes of social order, the priestly or teacher caste; a person belonging to this caste. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The Upanishad that sets forth teachings maintained by Yajnavalkya regarding Brahman. Brindavan. Forest and pastoral lands where Krishna played in his childhood. Buddha. Prince Gautama, circa 556–480 BC. Founder of Buddhism after attaining enlightenment. buddhi. Intellect, intelligence, faculty of discrimination. caste. The four castes of social order are: brahmin (priestly or teacher), kshatriya (warrior, protector), vaisya (trader, merchant, agriculturist), and sudra (worker, helper). See varna dharma. chaithanya. Consciousness, intelligence, spirit. Chidambaram. Town 122 miles SSW of Chennai, noted for its temple dedicated to Siva in his aspect of “cos- mic dancer”, Nataraja. Prasanthi Vahini Glossary 58 chinmaya-thathwa. The science of ultra-consciousness, pure intelligence. chith-sakthi. Power of universal consciousness or intelligence. chittha. Mind stuff, memory, subconscious mind. Viveka Chudamani. A spiritual text, “Crest Jewel of Spiritual Wisdom” by Sankara. dama. Control of the outer senses. darsana. Any of the six principal systems of ancient Indian philosophy; insight or vision of truth. Devi Bhagavatham. The story of the glory of Universal Divine Mother. One of the Puranas. dharana. Concentration, fixed attention, support. One of 8 steps in Patanjali’s yoga discipline. dharma. Righteousness, religion, code of conduct, duty, essential nature of a being or thing. It holds together the entire Universe. Man is exhorted to practise dharma to achieve material and spiritual welfare. The Vedas contain the roots of dharma. God is naturally interested in the reign of dharma. Dharma Sastras. Codes of law and ethics concerning virtuous living. dharmic. According to dharma, righteous. dhyana. Meditation. drisya. That which is perceived by the senses; the seen. Droupadi. Wife of Pandavas. See Mahabharatha. dwaitha. Dualism, the doctrine that the individual and the Supreme Soul are two different principles or entities. Gajendra. Elephant. In one discourse, Sai Baba mentions that the Gajendra or elephant (man) who was caught by the alligator (egotism) while frolicking in the lake (the objective world) was saved by the Lord (spiritual practices). Ganga. The 1560-mile-long Ganges river; starts in the Himalayas and flows generally east into the Bay of Ben- gal; the most sacred river of India. Gayatri mantra. A very sacred Vedic prayer for self-enlightenment; it is repeated piously at dawn, noon, and twilight devotions. Gita. See Bhagavad Gita. Godavari. Sacred river of south India; cuts across central south India, flowing from west to east. guna. Quality, property, trait; one of the three constituents of nature (sathwa, rajas, and thamas). They bind the soul to the body. Man’s supreme goal in life is to transcend the gunas and attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death. guru. Spiritual guide; a knower of Brahman, who is calm, desireless, merciful, and ever ready to help and guide spiritual aspirants who approach him. Hari. God; destroyer of sins; name for Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu. A demonic person who forbade mention of Vishnu’s name, wicked father of Prahlada, who was a great devotee of the Lord; killed by the man-lion Narashimha, an Avatar of Vishnu. iccha-sakthi. Will power. idam. This. Iswara-pranidhana. Surrender to the Lord. jagath. Cosmos, world of change, creation. Prasanthi Vahini Glossary 59 Janaka. A self-realized king; Sita’s father and Rama’s father-in-law. His ancestor was Nimi, a great emperor. jiva. Individual or soul, in a state of non-realisation of its identity with Brahman. It is unaware of its own nature and is subjected to sensations of pain and pleasure, birth and death, etc. jivi. Individual or soul. jnana. Sacred knowledge; knowledge of the spirit, pursued as a means to Self-realisation. It is direct experience of God, as the Soul of the souls. Jnana makes a man omniscient, free, fearless, and immortal. jnana-yoga. Path of inner contemplation, spiritual wisdom. jnani. Wise man, realized soul. Kabir. Also Kabirdas. 15th century mystic poet; preached equality before God of all creatures and the religion of love/devotion, which was aimed at the union of the soul with God. Born to a Muslim weaver family of Benares. Kali-yuga. Fourth in a cycle of four ages; the evil age; the one we are now in. See yuga. kama. Desire, lust, worldly fulfillment; one of four goals of humans. Kapila. Also Kapilamaharshi. Ancient sage-philosopher; prime exponent of the one of the six systems of phi- losophy known as Sankhya, which emphasizes duality of spirit and nature. karana. Causal or cause. karma. Action, deed, work, religious rite, the totality of innate tendencies formed as a consequence of acts done in previous lives. Every karma produces a lasting impression on the mind of the doer, apart from affecting others. Repetition of a particular karma produces a tendency (vasanas) in the mind. Karma is of three kinds: (i) praarabdha, which is being exhausted in the present life: (ii) aagami, which is being accumulated in the present life, and (iii) samchitha, which is being accumulated or stored to be experienced in future lives.